Donna Hay's Pizza Pie - IHCC

 This week, the members of the I Heart Cooking Club are exploring Donna Hay's take on pies and tarts ... and since I've been making a lot of traditional pies of late, I thought I'd stretch the idea of pies a bit .... and go for a pizza pie with a combination of luxe toppers. I used Donna's dough recipe, which is not my traditional whole wheat and wheat germ enriched version, but a simple white crust.

A New Twist on Hawaiian Pizza

This weekend's pizza was totally interesting ! Take a traditional tomato-based pizza and turn it on its ear! Hawaiian pizza has always seemed really exotic and kind of weird to me, but my brother-in-law raves about it! Whenever the guys have their poker parties at the family farm, Dan likes to order a Hawaiian number to split with the rest of the guys. So I've slowly come around to the idea of trying a pie decked out with ham and pineapple.

Semolina Pizza Dough

Friday night dinner had to be an easy affair ... time for pizza ... again! This pizza has a semolina dough. That's a change from my usual whole wheat and wheat germ dough ... it's much lighter and has a grainier texture because of the semolina. There is a cornmeal flake on the bottom of the crust and a beautiful white color. It's puffy and lighter than my other whole wheat dough. 

I love pizza for its quick ease. I love that there are any number of combinations of vegetables, herbs, cheeses, meats, and yes, even fruits making for a kazillion new pizza experiences. So many Friday nights - so many pizzas!

Building a Better Pizza ...

 ... vegetables and lean meat under some cheese

I love thick snowy white crusted pizzas that are loaded with cheese and sausage and peppers and mushrooms, but ... my backside and midriff don't so much. Sooo ... I'm making a pizza with a higher fiber crust, some very lean chicken, broccoli florets, red pepper slices, a bit of onion slivers, a more reserved amount of part-skim mozzarella ... and some herbs and garlic.  I'm also cutting way back on the amount of olive oil that gets slathered, the dollops of basil pesto that would get dropped, and the salty black olive bits. I'll def miss those salty bits and all that herb-y slather, but ... this will still be a great pizza!

Random Recipe - Clip-Outs and Magazine Corner Folds

Who doesn't have a pile of magazines set aside with 'must make recipes' marked by page folds? How about that folder or bag or box of newspaper clip-outs, scrawled index cards or slips of paper with recipes given by friends? I have a treasure trove of plastic shopping bags (two of them), a desk organizer, and a pile of magazines filled with such things! Dom has asked us to reach in and pull a random clipping for this month's Random Recipe - and that's exactly what I did.

Pizza - My Way

I was a busy Christmas elf today! My son, Eric and I spent much of the day doing our Christmas shopping, dashing to and fro around southern New Hampshire looking for just the right gifts for Silent Bob and the girls in the family. No real time for messing about in the kitchen this evening! And that means ...pizza!

Pizza ... a complete meal when you put plenty of vegetables and meat on a thick crust of dough! The cheese just adds the ultimate  'comfort food factor'! Yum!